Euro riders support halt to wire rope barriers

Two European motorcyclist associations have lent their support to an Australian family’s campaign to halt the rollout of wire rope barriers (WRBs) and TV ads extolling their dubious “safety merits”.

Jan White’s husband, Phil, aged 60, died when his bike unavoidably hit a dead kangaroo on a 110km/h slightly sweeping bend of the Calder Highway in Victoria on November 5, 2017. Phil hit four support poles on the WRBs next to the road.

“We should have enough room to create forgiving road sides as well as wider roads where the median barriers are installed further away from the roadside. In USA, the median barriers are installed 9-12 metres away.”

WRBs in Europe

The European Commission has no official stance on WRBs and their use varies across Europe.

WRBs are used in Poland, Iceland, Romania, Sweden and the UK to a lesser extent, but are banned in Belgium and Norway, not supported by the Netherlands government and have never been used in Germany or other European countries.

“The fact that they are not installed at least suggests that the government and road authorities do not fancy them for whatever reason,” Dolf says.

FEMA understands and promotes the need to save motorists’ lives, “but the protection of motorists should not be at the expense of the life of motorcyclists,” Dolf says.

Sweden WRBs

Sweden is a glaring European exception where WRBs are used on a large scale.

“Every year several motorcycles are killed (in Sweden) in accidents with barriers, including cable-barriers,” Dolf says.

The Swedish Transport Administration (STA) reports an annual 10-20% fatality of motorcyclists in barrier accidents with WRBs representing 26% of those or 15 out of 57 casualties from 2004-17.

While Maria recognises the STA’s claim that WRBs have reduced head-on collisions, she says more lives could be saved with a different choice of barrier.

“A median barrier must protect not only from oncoming traffic, but also protect the road users who collide with them from serious injuries,” she says.

Post navigation

13 Comments

Where were you when we needed you.. In NSW 3 or 4 years ago a number of groups lobbied both state and federal governments to have the cheese cutters removed, 15000 signatures, Nothing, totally ignored, why.. Who knows, but my cynical guess is that somewhere in the system, the company that produces these killer barriers, or hands out the contracts, is related to a minister or some other official somewhere in the bureaucratic red system. I know of several contractors that were paid to lay them who were previously plumbers, carpenters, and even a horse breeder. Ans till we continue to put these up. Even after extensive research in europe and NZ, even testing large plastic covers to protect motorcylists, they still persist. AND THEY DONT STOPS TRUCKS..Waste of space.

Motorcyclist was killed on the Oxley when he came off (no injuries so far)
then his head hit the post holding up a safety sign – yes, a safety sign!
Dead – broken neck.

Now they’ve installed hundreds of thousands of vertical posts – wire rope
on the outside of just about every bend, close to the edge of the bitumen, leaving NO recovery area
(over 95% of transits past edge of bitumen recover without mishap IF there is no barrier.

If two motorcyclists killed right in front of you during the last decade I’d make sure you weren’t behind me, thanks for the warning.

Swedish Transport Administration (STA) reports an annual 10-20% fatality of motorcyclists in barrier accidents. That’s a lot more dangerous than hitting a car.
You have no idea whether wire rope would have saved them, in fact it would have made these deaths more certain.

All barrier systems without post protection (continuous sheet metal that prevents a rider sliding under the barrier and hitting a post) are potential killers for motorcyclists, some in the UK had under barrier protection to prevent the posts killing people, but in many cases it has been removed as a maintenance cost saving measure. Wire barriers add to the problem with their ‘cheese wire’ effects, open top cars involved in collision with them are especially bad news.

WRB is killing road users. We need a win in the Coroner’s Court to stop the carnage. It’s an election year in Victoria. Riders should go see their MPs and candidates. Talk to local media too. Election day – November 24. BAD ROADS RALLY – BENDIGO – November 18. http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members. Damien. MRA. Melbourne

I know that in France, wire barriers are considered too dangerous for motorcyclists and have not been installed. May be the French association for riders, FFMC, could also support our cause in Australia

Well Ferret, while I do not condone destruction of public property, the act would be completely safe. The ends of the wire rope would move away from the cutter and are remain controlled by the posts. A political solution is the only lasting remedy to this debacle.